| (a) | Whenever any person is with reference to any offence referred to in Part III of Schedule 2 in the opinion of the attorney-general likely to give evidence on behalf of the State at criminal proceedings in any court, and the attorney-general, from information placed before him— |
| (i) | is of the opinion that the personal safety of such person is in danger or that he may abscond or that he may be tampered with or that he may be intimidated; or |
| (ii) | deems it to be in the interests of such person or of the administration of justice that he be detained in custody, |
the attorney-general may by way of affidavit place such information before a judge in chambers and apply to such judge for an order that the person concerned be detained pending the relevant proceedings.
| (b) | The attorney-general may in any case in which he is of the opinion that the object of obtaining an order under paragraph (a) may be defeated if the person concerned is not detained without delay, order that such person be detained forthwith but such order shall not endure for longer than seventy-two hours unless the attorney-general within that time by way of affidavit places before a judge in chambers the information on which he ordered the detention of the person concerned and such further information as might become available to him, and applies to such judge for an order that the person concerned be detained pending the relevant proceedings. |
| (c) | The attorney-general shall, as soon as he applies to a judge under paragraph (b) for an order of detention, in writing advise the person in charge of the place where the person concerned is being detained, that he has so applied for an order, and shall, where a judge under subsection (2)(a) refuses to issue a warrant for the detention of the person concerned, forthwith advise the person so in charge of such refusal, whereupon the person so in charge shall without delay release the person detained. |
| (a) | The judge hearing the application under subsection (1) may, if it appears to him from the information placed before him by the attorney-general— |
| (i) | that there is a danger that the personal safety of the person concerned may be threatened or that he may abscond or that he may be tampered with or that he may be intimidated; or |
| (ii) | that it would be in the interests of the person concerned or of the administration of justice that he be detained in custody, |
issue a warrant for the detention of such person.
| (b) | The decision of a judge under paragraph (a) shall be final: Provided that where a judge refuses an application and further information becomes available to the attorney-general concerning the person in respect of whom the application was refused, the attorney-general may again apply under subsection (1)(a) for the detention of that person. |
| (3) | A person in respect of whom a warrant is issued under subsection (2), shall be taken to the place mentioned in the warrant and, in accordance with regulations which the Minister is hereby authorised to make, be detained there or at any other place determined by any judge from time to time, or, where the person concerned is detained in terms of an order by the attorney-general under subsection (1)(b), such person shall, pending the decision of the judge under subsection (2)(a), be taken to a place determined by the attorney-general and detained there in accordance with the said regulations. |
| (4) | Any person detained under a warrant in terms of subsection (2) shall be detained for the period terminating on the day on which the criminal proceedings concerned are concluded, unless— |
| (a) | the attorney-general orders that he be released earlier; or |
| (b) | such proceedings have not commenced within six months from the date on which he is so detained, in which case he shall be released after the expiration of such period. |
[Section 185(4) substituted by section 2(1) of Act No. 79 of 1978]
| (5) | No person, other than an officer in the service of the State acting in the performance of his official duties, shall have access to a person detained under subsection (2), except with the consent of and subject to the conditions determined by the attorney-general or an officer in the service of the State delegated by him. |
| (6) | Any person detained under subsection (2) shall be visited in private at least once during each week by a magistrate of the district or area in which he is detained. |
| (7) | For the purposes of section 191 any person detained under subsection (2) of this section shall be deemed to have attended the criminal proceedings in question as a witness for the State during the whole of the period of his detention. |
| (8) | [Section 185(8) deleted by section 69 of Act No. 88 of 1996.] |
| (a) | In this section the expression "judge in chambers" means a judge sitting behind closed doors when hearing the relevant application. |
| (b) | No information relating to the proceedings under subsection (1) or (2) shall be published or be made public in any manner whatever. |
